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[color=DarkOrchid]"Police officer. Trust. Right,"[/color] Grace said, her face taught with visual reluctance, but the facts of the situation did not lie. Alpha was sorely outnumbered by the rest of the group; Grace considered the idea of a single cop/hero overpowering four other trained heroes (alright, three heroes and Chad) rather improbable. He [i]could[/i] call for backup, which was a lingering threat, but as Pandora had said earlier, there was no reason for Alpha to risk coming alone to the flower store- if his plan was to come and arrest them, it was likely the group would either be busy fending off hordes of SWAT intruders or in the back of a police van already. Considering that neither of those options were the case, and that Christina had already confided in Alpha, Grace figured it would be reasonable enough to give the cop some trust. Not [i]too[/i] much trust, mind, but enough. Grace turned to look at Patricia.  [color=DarkOrchid]"I think it's safe to trust him. For now,"[/color] Grace said, looking over to examine the man again. He seemed very dignified, monotonous, and respectful- something that Grace would normally find to be superior characteristics to have, but in these times, she saw them as much more unpredictable. At least with somebody like Jamie, you can instantly know who you're working with. 

[color=DarkOrchid]"Let's go upstairs. I have a plan...well, I have the fledglings of a plan, which I guess will be enough for the time being,"[/color] Grace said, rubbing her temples to let the thoughts flow as she made her way up the stairs. Once she ascended back into the apartment portion of the flower shop, Grace made her way across the room, crossing her arms and tapping her foot in a way that indicated 'I am the one with the plan, I am in charge, listen to me.' Once she was reasonably sure everybody was paying attention, she spoke. [color=DarkOrchid]"Alright, so, with a little bit of research, there are 3 locations that I think are crucial to EAGLES at this point in time. One of them is Seraph's private island, Elmore Island."[/color] Grace put a potted bonsai tree on the table, apparently to indicate the island. [color=DarkOrchid]"All indications suggest that this is EAGLES' temporary headquarters and a sort of meeting place for the organization, and for good measure. The entire ground floors are insulated from an intrusion with heavy security, so no boating in, and Seraph likely has some measure of air security in place to prevent us from flying in. I've also never been to Seraph's private prison hellhole before, so portaling in would be a crapshoot, and considering that the whole place is probably secure, it's not one that favors us. We'd probably just get arrested on the spot, so for now, I think we should save an invasion of the island for later."[/color] Grace draped a handkerchief over the mini tree. 

She then, continuing on this motif, removed two more potted plants and put them on the table, in front of the now-covered bonsai. [color=DarkOrchid]"I think our better bet is to focus on two other locations that the Wings have their eyes on. HERO One and Club 27,"[/color] Grace continued. [color=DarkOrchid]"Club 27 is where Patricia allegedly murdered a whole bunch of people, but that's an obvious lie, so I think if we want to get Patricia off the hook, we should go there. It's probably still crawling with cops, and it's likely going to be a trap, but we'll be prepared for it. Hopefully the club will give us a clue as to how the Wings of Law managed this coup in the first place, anyway. I have a sneaking suspicion that they aren't working alone. The last time they tried to kill us, they dumped us on a movie set full of ogres. This attempt seems too serious and successful to be just Seraph's handiwork."[/color] Grace pushed the pot of magnolias next to the covered bonsai before moving over a nice pot of daffodils. [color=DarkOrchid]"The other location of significance is HERO One. Seraph probably has some heroes set up around there, but from what I've seen he's been locked out of the tower, and considering that his HERO clearance was revoked, I'm fairly certain that neither him nor the other two of his head cronies could get in. "[/color] Grace surmised. [color=DarkOrchid]"He'll probably have some old heroes on his payroll at HERO One, and maybe some...old friends,"[/color] Grace finished weakly, before taking a deep breath. [color=DarkOrchid]"Sorry...anyway, HERO One has a lot of weapons and gear to make use of, and it also probably has floor plans of Seraph's island, considering that Seraph used to contract his prison out to HERO. Both locations carry a lot of significance, so it might be wise to split up, divide and conquer. Of course, if any of you are going to duck out, now would be the time to speak up. I would hate to drag your personal life into our mess for no reason,"[/color] Grace said solemly.

[color=DarkOrchid]"If anybody has anything to say, or anything to add..."[/color] She looked to Pandora, then Chad, then Alpha, [color=DarkOrchid]"...your information would be much appreciated. If not, we should get ready to go. The longer we wait, the more time it gives Seraph to prepare himself, and the more time it gives to his henchmen to hunt us down and haul us to Coldwater."[/color] 

[@Duoya] [@Zoey Boey] [@canaryrose] [@Amethyst] [@DarkRecon]

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The Illuminator (also known as "Bulb Bongo") stared at Starbright in a combination of suspicion, disbelief, and plain hysterics. This guy thought that he could just BRIBE him! Hah! That was sad! The Illuminator laughed heartily, now confident that Starbright was just dumb, before charging up his power suit, preparing to blast him to oblivion. Just before he could do so, though, he was hit in the side by his Australian friend, who Christina had roughly thrown off of her, and the two crashed in tandem into the wall. Meanwhile, Perfected Physique had just as little luck. After being slammed up and down several times, he had managed to get close enough to sock Tom in the face, but before he could do it, he was thrown into the ceiling again, and that was one too many flips for him to handle. Perfected Physique's perfected physique fell to the ground with a thud.

Christina dusted off her hands. [color=salmon]"Nice work. Lucky thing that ol' Brad here's ego is much bigger than his brain is,"[/color] Christina quipped as she casually picked up Perfected Physique and put him inside one of the large armor suits underneath Jamie's name. The armor suit slid shut, encapsulating his body inside. Christina explained, [color=salmon]"The AQS only operates with Samantha's permission, which Perfected Physique doesn't have. So he'll just be stuck inside this impossibly heavy suit of armor. Hopefully he doesn't have claustrophobia,"[/color] Christina said as she tied the other two heroes/villains together with a length of cord. [color=salmon]"Anyway, let's go,"[/color] Christina said, walking over to the elevator. Unlike the regular HERO elevator, the elevator in the vault was smaller, glass, tubular, and even more advanced-looking than their regular counterparts. [color=salmon]"Private elevators. They move unseen behind the regular elevators. Get in,"[/color] Christina explained as she stepped into the elevator. [color=salmon]"Samantha, take us to the executive offices."[/color]

The elevator whirred and carried them upwards, moving silently through the floors of HERO undetected. As they passed by unseen, the group could hear the words of some of the HEROs (or more accurately, EAGLES) as they passed along, statement such as "wow, can you believe Powers is dead? I can't," "I mean, I didn't LIKE Aria, but I didn't think she was a mass murderer...apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess," and "how many abs do you think Starbright has? I mean, he's gotta have at least an 8-pack...maybe a 10-pack," and other assorted nonsense. The elevator stopped on the 14th level, and slid open smoothly to reveal...the inside of a broom closet. Christina swung the broom closet door open, though, to reveal a familiar hallway. The hallway was where Christina and Powers' offices were. Right down the hall was Powers' office, the common destination for any miscreant behavior, but Christina made a right and opened the door to her office instead. Christina's office was nearly as spacious as Powers', but much less meticulous- there were papers strewn about everywhere, all manner of forms spread out across the table like a blanket, a couple framed pictures of Zoe and Christina together sitting on the desk as well. Around the room on various racks were a variety of guns. Christina sat down on her desk. [color=salmon]"Place looks as neat as ever; EAGLES haven't been able to get here yet. Good thing. Alright, here's the plan. Step one: we take back HERO One. Take out the [i]actual[/i] traitors that actually jumped boat, you know, and get this building back. I'm going to activate the flare up on the roof, which'll signal for any of the other heroes to get the hell over here. Tom can hopefully help me out- the flare is tough to activate, don't know [i]why,[/i] but it is. As for Starbright..."[/color] Christina rummaged through her draw and pulled out a Macbook a moment later. [color=salmon]"Take this and make a video. Get people rallied up against Seraph, put it on YouTube or some other streaming site,"[/color] Christina said, giving him a serious look. [color=salmon]"If we're gonna take out Seraph once and for all, we need people to really hate him. Seraph is empowered by success. So, go do what you do best and make the people swoon. And also, don't look at my personal photos, please. There's some [i]very[/i] private stuff there. Now, come on, Tom, let's go."[/color]

Christina guided Tom back to the broom closet and tapped on a few bricks of the wall, like she was playing piano with the stones. The hidden, private elevator slid open again, and Christina stepped inside again, directing it up a few floors. The doors swung open again to the crisp air of HERO's rooftop, way up in the sky, overlooking much of Castleburg. It was raining, but not heavily, a light drizzle and cool dusky air making the summer heat much more tolerable. There were two guards standing on the rooftop, but Christina didn't even need Tom's help with them, quickly incapacitating them both before they could say "jackknife." Christina then ushered Tom across the rooftop, gesturing towards a large metal cube jutting out of the ground. [color=salmon]"Here it is. The HERO flare. If you remember, it's only activated during emergencies, when all heroes are needed at HQ,"[/color] Christina said, pressing a button on the top of the box. The sides of the metal slid down, revealing an old, cannon-like machine beneath, halfway inside the roof of the building. [color=salmon]"Grab onto the side and pull it up...this thing is halfway inside the fucking roof, and it's heavy as fuck, I don't know why Powers insisted on keeping it, it's from, like, the 1990s,"[/color] Christina said condescendingly as she grabbed one side of the cannon, pulling up. Even with their combined force, the cannon only moved up slowly, creaking along as it did.

As the two pulled the cannon out of the roof, Christina looked at Tom. [color=salmon]"You look worried about something, and you aren't hiding it well...is it you-know-who?"[/color] Christina asked, raising an eyebrow. [color=salmon]"Listen, I'm sure the two of you will hammer things out. You guys have great synergy. Bounce off each other really well. Let's just focus on the here and now...Grace won't hate you, I'm sure, once she realizes. And she's smart; she'll figure it out quick,"[/color] Christina said comfortingly, as the cannon creaked to a halt, now positioned atop the roof at an 85-degree angle. [color=salmon]"You need her, anyway. I'm not sure how you made it for so long without somebody taking care of your ass..."[/color] Christina said with a smirk, bending down and putting her finger on a button on the cannon. [color=salmon]"Now, cover your ears, and watch."[/color]

With a loud [i]bang,[/i] Christina sent the flare soaring midair, a sparkling red star of fire that hovered way up in the sky, as if my magic, red sparks fluttering down from it in the rain. Christina smiled proudly as the flare glowed brightly in the sky. [color=salmon]"Alright, good news, that'll probably get some attention. Bad news...that'll probably get some attention,"[/color] Christina said, before spontaneously ducking behind an air vent. [color=salmon]"Deal with it!"[/color] Christina whisper-yelled at Tom.[color=salmon]"You're still in their good graces, play the part!"[/color]

Two heroes ran out of the normal elevator, running over to the flare cannon, and seeing Tom. "Spacewalker! Tom!" one of them, a young woman with shiny blonde hair in a latex suit named Brightside, called out, waddling over to Tom's location. The other hero, a heavily mustachioed man named Beardman, was examining the cannon. Brightside looked at Tom, a bit suspicious and a bit confused. "What's going on here? Who fired the flare? What are you doing? You know Seraph gave [i]specific[/i] orders not to touch that thing, right? Arrrgh...you've screwed everything up, I'm going to call Seraph right now, he's going to be pissed..." the woman ranted, grabbing her phone. "This is a fucking nightmare, Seraph is going to KILL US...uggh..."


[@KaijuBaragon][@Jumbus]
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